Xerox Corp. donated $1 million to help create the John Parker Library at Cincinnati's new National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The gift was presented by Xerox Foundation Vice President Joseph Cahalan.
The library is named after John Parker, who lived in Ripley, Ohio, from 1850 until his death in 1900. He was an ironsmith and foundry master who purchased his own freedom and then helped an estimated 1,000 slaves obtain their own freedom as well. The library will house research tools, a digital archive of Underground Railroad materials, including the records of Cincinnati's Union Baptist Church, and a genealogy research area.
This latest gift brings the Freedom Center's capital campaign to $101 million, just a few million away from its goal of $110 million.
The 158,000-square-foot National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is now under construction and will open August 23 in Cincinnati on the banks of the Ohio River.
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